sonicwfandomcom-20200216-history
Bennie and the Jets
Song Info|last=Janovitz|first=Bill|website=AllMusic|access-date=11 August 2019}} | length = 5:23 | label = *MCA *DJM | writer = *Elton John *Bernie Taupin | producer = Gus Dudgeon | prev_title = Candle in the Wind | prev_year = 1974 | next_title = Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me | next_year = 1974 }} "Bennie and the Jets" (also titled "Benny & the Jets") is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The song first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973. "Bennie and the Jets" has been one of John's most popular songs and was performed during his appearance at Live Aid. The track was a massive hit in America and Canada, released in 1974 as an A-side and spelled 'Bennie'. In most territories the track was released as the B-side to "Candle in the Wind", but spelled 'Benny'. Album artwork (back-cover track listing and centre-panel design) consistently lists the song as 'Bennie' while both 'Bennie' and 'Benny' appear on the actual vinyl album depending on territory. The track was released as an A-side in the UK in 1976, as "Benny and the Jets". Single release "Bennie and the Jets" or "Benny and the Jets" was featured on side one of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album, and Elton John was set against releasing it as a single, believing it would fail. CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, began heavy airplay of the song and it became the #1 song in the Detroit market. This attention caused other American and Canadian Top 40 stations to add it to their playlists as well and as a result, the song peaked at #1 on the US singles chart in 1974. In the US, it was certified Gold on 8 April 1974 and Platinum on 13 September 1995 by the RIAA, and had sold 2.8 million copies by August 1976. "Bennie and the Jets" was also John's first Top 40 hit on what at the time was called the ''Billboard'' Hot Soul Singles chart, where it peaked at #15, the highest position out of the three of his singles which reached that chart. The acceptance of "Bennie" on R&B radio helped land John, a huge soul music fan, a guest appearance on the edition of 17 May 1975 of Soul Train, where he played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Philadelphia Freedom". In Canada, it held the #1 spot on the ''RPM'' national singles chart for two weeks (13–20 April), becoming his first #1 single of 1974 and his fourth overall. Song composition The song tells of "Bennie and the Jets", a fictional band of whom the song's narrator is a fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song's lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. The greed and glitz of the early 1970s music scene is portrayed by Taupin's words: :We'll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around, :you're gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound. Taupin also goes on to describe the flashy wardrobe of "Bennie", the leader of the band: :She's got electric boots, a mohair suit :You know I read it in a magazine Ohh... Produced by Gus Dudgeon, the song was recorded during the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sessions in France at Château d'Hérouville's Strawberry Studios, where John and Taupin had recorded their previous two albums, Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. After recording the song in the studio, John and the band worried that it was too plain and unoriginal. In the Eagle Vision documentary on the making of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John recalled, "I fought tooth and nail against 'Bennie' coming out as a single." According to guitarist Davey Johnstone, Bennie and the Jets' was one of the oddest songs we ever recorded. We just sat back and said, 'This is really odd. While mixing the album, Dudgeon came up with the idea of creating a "live from Playhouse Theatre" sound for the track. He added reverb effects, applause and other audience sounds from John's previous concerts and a loop from the Jimi Hendrix live album Isle of Wight, plus whistles, giving it the "live concert recording" feel that has since become a sort of trademark. John rarely plays the studio version of the song, and often makes subtle or even drastic changes. Live, the piano solo in the middle of the song has been played in all sorts of variations, from very close to the original to wildly improvised and extended versions, such as the elaborate version during a Central Park concert in 1980 and another memorable take on it during the "Elton and his band" part of the show recorded for what would become Live in Australia in December 1986. (It can be seen on various Laserdisc releases of the show.) He has also been known to end the song in a wide range of styles, including classical, swing, boogie-woogie and even using the signature five-note phrase from John Williams' score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Personnel * Elton John – piano, Farfisa organ, vocals * Davey Johnstone – acoustic and electric guitars * Dee Murray – bass * Nigel Olsson – drums Music video In May 2017, an official music video for "Bennie and the Jets" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as a winner of Elton John: The Cut, a competition organized in partnership with AKQA, Pulse Films, and YouTube in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his songwriting relationship with Bernie Taupin. The competition called upon independent filmmakers to submit treatments for music videos for one of three Elton John songs from the 1970s, with each song falling within a specific concept category. "Bennie and the Jets" was designated for the choreography category, and was directed by Jack Whiteley and Laura Brownhill. The video was influenced by early cinema and the work of Busby Berkeley, portraying characters as participants on a talent show auditioning for Bennie. Charts and certifications Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications Covers *Mary J. Blige song "Deep Inside" features Elton John, who plays elements of his song "Bennie and the Jets" on the piano, which it samples. He does not provide additional vocals. The video for the single features Blige and her dancers performing to "Sincerity", which appears on the deluxe edition of the Mary album in the United States and the United Kingdom single of "Deep Inside." * The Beastie Boys released a cover of this song on their The Sounds of Science album in 1999. The song, titled "Benny and the Jets", was sung by frequent Beastie Boys collaborator Biz Markie, who often mumbles the words while singing. This recording was first released in 1995 as a flexi disc inside of issue two of the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal magazine. * Cher performed the song in a duet on The Cher Show with Elton John on piano in 1975. *Indie Pop artist BØRNS performs his own cover of "Bennie and The Jets" during live shows. At times he adds a verse from Frank Ocean's "Super Rich Kids" towards the end, as "Super Rich Kids" has samples of "Bennie and The Jets" within it. * Pink and Logic covered the song alongside John on the 2018 tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. * In 2018, the staff of Boston radio station WROR made a parody/cover of the song about the 2018 Boston Red Sox. The song mentions Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Jr., Chris Sale, and Steve Pearce. * On 27 July 2019, Postmodern Jukebox covered the song, featuring Aubrey Logan. Mondegreens in the song The song contains the line "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit", which is often misheard as "She's got electric boobs, and mohair shoes". References in popular culture *Axl Rose cited it as a song that meant a lot to him as a teenager. *The character portrayed by Julianne Moore in Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) is an Elton John-obsessed villain with two robot dogs she named "Jet" and "Bennie" in reference to the song. References External links * Category:Elton John songs Category:1974 singles Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles Category:Songs with music by Elton John Category:Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin Category:Recorded music characters Category:Mondegreens Category:Live singles Category:Fictional musical groups Category:Song recordings produced by Gus Dudgeon Category:1973 songs Category:MCA Records singles Category:DJM Records singles Category:Songs about music